Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine, OHSU
Staff Psychiatrist and Internist, Portland VA Medical Center
Team Leader, General Medicine Psychiatry Program, Vancouver Division
Consultant, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Program
Consultant, Providence Health System Adult Behavioral Health

1996 MD Faculty of Medicine, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
96-98 Research Fellow, NIH NRSA, University of Tennessee, Memphis.
98-03 Combined Internal Medicine and Psychiatry Residency, University of Virginia, School of Medicine, Roanoke-Salem
01-03 Chief Resident Medicine and Psychiatry Programs, University of Virginia, School of Medicine, Roanoke-Salem
03-04 Clinical Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Program, Bethesda, MD
04-05 Fellow in Psychosomatic Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Program, Bethesda, MD

Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine
Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychiatry
Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychosomatic Medicine

M. Aly Rifai, M.D., joined the OHSU faculty as Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry in June 2005 and the staff of the Portland VA as Team Leader of the General Medicine Psychiatry Program, Vancouver Division. Originally from Aleppo, Syria, Dr. Rifai received his medical training at Aleppo University Faculty of Medicine. Funded by the National Institutes of Health Neuroscience Research Training Award, he completed a neuroscience research training fellowship at the University of Tennessee, College of Medicine Memphis, where he studied the genomics and signal transduction of dopamine and norepinephrine.
In 1998 he began training in the combined Internal Medicine and Psychiatry program at the University of Virginia, School of Medicine Program in Roanoke and Salem. He was the chief resident for both the Psychiatry and Internal Medicine programs from 2001-2003, and is board certified in internal medicine, psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine. During his residency, he received the prestigious NIMH Outstanding Resident Award (2001) and was also awarded a scholarship by the American Psychiatric Association American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education for research on severe mental illness and hepatitis C (2000-2002).
Most recently, he was awarded the William Webb Fellowship by the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (2005-2006), and completed a combined research and psychosomatic medicine fellowship at NIMH. His research interests focus on the treatment of patients with Hepatitis C and psychiatric illness. He is also working on identifying genomic markers for depression in patients with medical illnesses. Dr. Rifai is married to Douha Sabouni, M.D. They are the proud parents of two boys, Nader and Nabeel.

Awards

1. Rifai MA, Harrington DP, Moles JK "Lithium induced Hypercalcemia and Parathyroid Dysfunction" Psychosomatics 2001; 42(4): 359-361.
   
2. Yovtcheva S, Rifai MA, Moles JK et al "Psychiatric co-morbidities in patients with Hepatitis C” Psychosomatics 2001; 42(5): 411-415. Reprinted in Focus 2005 (3); 261-265
   
3. Rifai MA, Bozorg B, Rosenstein DL “ Interferon for Hepatitis C patients with psychiatric disorders” American Journal of Psychiatry 2004; 161(12): 2331-2332
   
4. Rifai MA “ Hepatitis C patients with psychiatric illness: the forgotten “ Annals of Internal Medicine, electronic letter 2004 (http://www.annals.org/cgi/eletters/141/9/715)
   
5. Rifai MA, Rosenstein DL “ Hepatitis C and Psychiatry “ Focus 2005 (3): 194-202
   
6. Rifai MA” Interferon treatment of Hepatitis C patients with psychiatric disorders: evidence based risk-benefit assessment” Primary Care Companion Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2005: 7 (2): 74-75
   
7. Loftis JM, Rifai MA, Hauser P. “The association between viral clearance and depression in patients with hepatitis C receiving interferon-alpha and ribavirin” Brain Behavior and Immunity 2005; 19:271-272
   
8. Rifai MA, Loftis JM, Hauser P. “Interferon- treatment of patients with Hepatitis C: The role of a comprehensive risk-benefit assessment” CNS Drugs 2005; 19 (8)-719-721
   
9. Rifai MA, Moles JK, Lehman LP, Vander Linden BJ “Hepatitis C screening and treatment outcomes in patients with substance use / dependence disorders” Psychosomatics 2006; 57:112-121
   
10. 10. Rifai MA, Moles JK, Short DD “ Hepatitis C treatment eligibility and outcomes in patients with psychiatric disorders” Psychiatric Services 2006; 47: 570-572
    
11. Rifai MA, Heller T, Moles JK, Rosenstein DL. “ Interferon-alpha treatment of patients with hepatitis C and psychotic disorders; a case series” Psychosomatics 2006; in press clinical case conference
    
12. Rifai MA “ Hepatitis C treatment of patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder; a case series” Primary Care Companion Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2006; in press
    
13. Rifai MA, Loftis JM, Hauser P “ Hepatitis C treatment of veterans with psychiatric illness” American Journal of Gastroenterology 2006;101: 673-674
    
14. Rifai MA, Hauser P “ Psychological and Psychiatric Care of the Hepatitis C Patient “ Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology 2006; in press
    
15. Rifai MA “Psychiatric care of the Hepatitis C patient” Primary Care Companion Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2006; in press